The Washington Capitals have a quandary on their hands.
Coming into Friday night’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, Washington, as a team, has allowed the seventh fewest goals in the NHL, yet their goaltending, one of the key things that held them back last season, still seems unsettled.
Though Vitek Vanecek is currently rehabbing an upper-body injury, he is the apparent starter in net. But his grip on that role remains tenuous. If he has a bad game or two, Laviolette would turn to the backup and at any moment Vanecek would lose his spot. Then, after a sensational NHL debut and a scintillating two seasons in Hershey, Zach Fucale appears to no longer be just an AHL player anymore.
Then there’s first round prodigy Ilya Samsonov, who has shown the potential to possibly be a great NHL goaltender someday but has yet to prove himself reliable in the NHL. And this season, at least so far, his numbers beyond his record are below average (.893 all-situation save percentage).
It’s leading fans to wonder what’s next for this two-headed goalie monster that is starting to grow a third head.
I’ll try to explain what I see.
First, as much of a feel-good moment Zach Fucale‘s shutout was on Thursday night, the French Canadian netminder is unlikely to stay with the team much longer than the conclusion of Friday’s two-game road trip simply because of his roster designation. Fucale’s currently on an emergency loan due to Vanecek’s upper-body injury.
Fucale can be in the NHL only until Vanecek’s injury resolves. The NHL’s CBA states that an emergency recall can play in fewer than ten cumulative games or be on the active roster for fewer than thirty cumulative days before he must be returned, which in Fucale’s case was AHL Hershey.
Vanecek appears likely to return soon as the Capitals have avoided even classifying him as injured in the press (Vanecek’s absence from the bench on Thursday was considered a “maintenance day”).
“He had a good day today,” Laviolette said of Vanecek before Friday’s game against Columbus. “I think that’s a positive sign. He came out and got some work inside the room and on the ice. All things are good.”
If the Capitals send Fucale down on Saturday, they could recall him again in a standard way and carry three goaltenders. But that seems unlikely as you’d want all three goaltenders to play games and stay as sharp as possible.
Next, Vanecek and Samsonov have reached an age where they cannot be sent down to the minors without passing through waivers. Both players are talented enough where they’d likely be claimed by one of the league’s other teams. The scenario in which GM Brian MacLellan sends one of the two goaltenders down to the minors (most likely Samsonov) to keep Fucale in Washington is hard to imagine.
If MacLellan really wants to change things up in net, which is unknown, a trade is the best route to accomplish that goal. And that takes time. And while Vanecek is the starter now, it’s still unclear who the best player is between him and Samsonov. What is clear is that the team’s patience on the Vanecek-Samsonov duo is running out.
“They’ve both played well (but) like I said at the beginning of the year: we need growth out of both of these guys,” MacLellan said earlier this week to The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir. “They’ve got to continue to get better.
“I think it’s tough to evaluate them at this point because they haven’t played enough, there’s not a big enough sample size. But over these next ten games, we need growth from both goalies.”
Meanwhile, Fucale’s performance against the Detroit Red Wings (third place in Atlantic Division) was eye-opening. According to Japers’ Rink, Fucale’s start was the seventh best goaltending performance for the Capitals over the last three seasons and better than all but one Samsonov start. Then there’s Fucale’s performance in Hershey over the last two seasons. In 11 AHL starts last season, he posted and a .932 all-situation save percentage His performance in 2021-22 has been slightly better, with a .933 save percentage.
If Fucale is deserving of an NHL opportunity, he’s more likely to get it later in the season (think trade deadline) or next year. Samsonov and Vanecek are both under team control and are cheap restricted free agents while Fucale is still under contract ($750k) next season.
